May 15, 2004
Dark Age Ahead
Various early reviews of Jane Jacobs’ new book: a sympathetic one in The San Francisco Chronicle, and a bitchily dismissive one by Francis Fukuyama in Wired.
I’ve found Fukuyama impossible to take seriously since The End of History. (End of history? Tell Osama.)
Update: More reviews Saturday:
Unfortunately, Toronto relates far too closely with Jacobs' list of five decaying pillars, stabilizing forces designed to bolster our civilization and withstand the forces that constantly threaten to plunge successful cultures into a "downward drift" that can end in a dark age.
Dark Age Coming contains a number of arresting factual parables ... and Jacobs is very good at telling them: no wasted words, no obscure jargon, and a refreshing scorn for the experts.